Hanwha Ocean Obtains Basic Certification for Liquefied Hydrogen Carrier from Norwegian Classification Society

At Gastech 2024 held in Houston, USA, Son Young-chang, Vice President and Head of Product Strategy Technology at Hanwha Ocean (fourth from the left), Martin Sondre Cartwright, Global Sales Director for Gas Vessels at DNV (fifth from the left), and Mark Burtz, CEO of CB&I (sixth from the left), along with representatives from the three companies, held a basic certification ceremony for the liquefied hydrogen carrier ship. Photo by Hanwha Ocean

Hanwha Ocean announced on the 19th that it has obtained the Approval In Principle (AIP) from the Norwegian classification society DNV for an 80,000㎥ class electric propulsion liquefied hydrogen carrier at GASTECH 2024, the world's largest gas exhibition held in Houston, USA.

Liquid hydrogen reduces its volume to 1/800 compared to its gaseous state and improves transportation efficiency by more than ten times, making it advantageous for storage and transport. It is considered essential for realizing the future hydrogen economy. Accordingly, technology development in the field of liquefied hydrogen storage and transportation is actively underway worldwide, and maritime transportation of liquefied hydrogen is expected to increase in the future. This has led to the rising necessity for large liquefied hydrogen carriers.

The liquefied hydrogen carrier certified this time generates electricity through a carbon-free power source using boil-off gas (BOG) naturally evaporated hydrogen gas from the cargo tanks. Therefore, the operation of this vessel emits no carbon dioxide at all.

To this end, Hanwha Ocean signed a business agreement with the US company CB&I in 2022. Last year, DNV also participated, forming a tripartite business agreement, and has been conducting extensive research including verification of the concept design of an eco-friendly electric propulsion system applying the basic performance and structural safety of the liquefied hydrogen carrier, cargo handling system (CHS), and hydrogen fuel cells.

CB&I is a company with over 60 years of experience and capabilities in the construction of related storage facilities, including manufacturing and supplying the world's largest liquefied hydrogen storage tank at NASA Kennedy Space Center in the United States.

Regarding the liquefied hydrogen carrier certified this time, Mark Butts, CEO of CB&I, said, "Hanwha Ocean's expertise in gas carriers and CB&I's expertise in large-scale liquefied hydrogen storage and handling systems have perfectly interacted," adding, "Through the development of the safest and most efficient liquefied hydrogen carrier with a natural boil-off rate (BOR) of 0.05% per day, we have made a significant contribution to the future expansion of the liquefied hydrogen supply chain."

A Hanwha Ocean official stated, "Based on this certification, we plan to secure overwhelming technological capabilities by focusing on the development of large liquefied hydrogen carriers of 160,000㎥ class or more, as well as ships applying various carbon-free propulsion systems."